| Playing for Time | |
| Cover: | Playing for Time cover art.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Peter Gabriel |
| Album: | I/O |
| Released: |
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| Genre: | |
| Studio: |
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| Length: | 6:17 |
| Label: | |
| Producer: | Peter Gabriel |
| Prev Title: | The Court |
| Prev Year: | 2023 |
| Next Title: | I/O |
| Next Year: | 2023 |
"Playing for Time" is a song by English musician Peter Gabriel, released in March 2023 as the third single in promotion of his tenth studio album I/O. This is his first album of original material since 2002's Up. Two versions of the song have been released: the "Bright Side Mix" (mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent) and the "Dark Side Mix" (mixed by Tchad Blake). The cover art for this track features Annette Messager's Mes voeux (avec nos cheveux).[3] Recorded at Gabriel's Real World Studios in Wiltshire and the Beehive and British Grove Studios in London, "Playing For Time" features regulars Tony Levin on bass and Manu Katché on drums. The single was released on March 7 and the full moon, called the Worm Moon.[4] [5]
In its unfinished form (part of the intro and the entire bridge were missing at the time) without proper lyrics and only with piano and bass instrumentation, "Playing for Time" was performed on Back to Front Tour from 2012 to 2014, opening almost all shows. At that time it was known as "O But" (later as "Daddy Long Legs").
When asked about the song's meaning, Gabriel stated that:
"It is more of a personal song about how you assemble memories and whether we are prisoners of time or whether that is something that can actually free us. I do think it's good to push yourself towards more bold or interesting experiences because then you will have richer memories to feed you when you get to my age. You also get taught by every meaningful experience that you go through."[6]Tom Cawley, who played piano on Gabriel's New Blood Tour, appears on the track along with many musicians from the New Blood Orchestra. The orchestral arrangements were done by Edward Shearmur, who previously handled the orchestration for Gabriel's cover of "That'll Do" from the soundtrack.[2] Gabriel has also stated that an influence on the track was the non-profit organization Long Now Foundation.
| Peak position | |
| German Downloads (Offizielle Download Top 100)[7] | 87 |
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